CNN: Black in America — The Black Woman and Family

Blog­ging as I watch.

The genealog­i­cal story of the Rands really intrigues me.  I started my own genealog­i­cal search, but haven’t got­ten as far as these peo­ple did. It’s so inter­est­ing to me.

Edu­ca­tion

Now, what those vol­un­teers are doing, going to GET the kids..that’s what I’m talk­ing about!

The Smiths took an ACTIVE inter­est in their children’s edu­ca­tion.  Instead of accept­ing the sta­tus quo, they made SURE their chil­dren got a good edu­ca­tion, and stressed the impor­tance of it to them.  They didn’t just send their chil­dren to school and expect the school to be respon­si­ble for their edu­ca­tion.

I don’t think I have a prob­lem with giv­ing kids money for test scores. Every­body needs an incen­tive.  They’re not get­ting paid to do home­work. But how you gonna ask kids if the incen­tives are ruin­ing their love for learn­ing? Like they’re gonna say, “yes, I would love learn­ing more if you didn’t pay me!”

Eric Kennedy:  “You have to stay on top of your child.”  AMEN!

Health Care:

Based on per­sonal expe­ri­ence, I know that it’s cheaper to eat unhealthy food than it is to eat healthy food. It’s EASIER to get unhealthy food than healthy food. But how much is our health worth to us??  Do we do what is in OUR power to do so that we can stay healthy?

Another thing:  I’m see­ing they pick the worst-case sce­nar­ios and then put them up as an exam­ple of being “Black In Amer­ica”.  I don’t think that’s real­is­tic. Three-quarters of us are NOT liv­ing in poverty. So what excuse can we use?

Sin­gle Par­ent Fam­i­lies:

I am a sin­gle par­ent. 70% of Black chil­dren are born to unwed moth­ers. I am one of them.  Hav­ing said that, that is a prob­lem that WE can take care of.  Nobody forces us to have babies out of wed­lock.  NOBODY.  That is a PERSONAL choice.  It doesn’t “just hap­pen”.  And it CERTAINLY doesn’t hap­pen mul­ti­ple times.

Nev­er­the­less, the kids are here.  This is when Black folk need to stop talk­ing about sin­gle par­ents and actu­ally BEING that vil­lage that raises a child.  I’m blessed in that I have a great sup­port sys­tem, I know that.  And other sin­gle moth­ers need that SAME sup­port.

Mar­riage should be encour­aged. Out of wed­lock births shouldn’t be so ACCEPTED.

Mar­riage and Dat­ing:

There is a prob­lem when a woman works hard to get an edu­ca­tion and do well in her career and then have to hear that her lifestyle is intim­i­dat­ing.  That’s bull.  So should black women not achieve so that we can appeal to a black man who hasn’t done as well?

I haven’t always felt this way, but now I am a firm believer that black women should be open to dat­ing ANY race. I know it’s hard. I’ve never met a man of another race that I was attracted to…but I’m OPEN to it.  Let one come along!

Now, some women have unre­al­is­tic stan­dards.  If you are well-educated and mak­ing a boat­load of money, I don’t think it’s real­is­tic to demand that a man make the same as you.  However..he does need to be ade­quately edu­cated, be able to SPELL, read a BOOK, have a con­ver­sa­tion, do more than play video games and watch foot­ball.

I’ma just shut up about the Obama ref­er­ence.  Yep. Zip my lip.

I do agree that the Black com­mu­nity is more likely to accept bi-racial chil­dren than the White com­mu­nity.

Aids:

OK, class.  How does one get AIDS?  Say it with me, UNPROTECTED SEX.  How many times does it have to be stated?  I’m sorry, I’m not buy­ing this mise­d­u­ca­tion crock.  It’s not mise­d­u­ca­tion. It’s peo­ple think­ing that it won’t hap­pen to them or it can’t hap­pen to them, and going on their merry way hav­ing unpro­tected sex and and mulit­ple part­ners, and not WORRYING about HIV until AFTER the fact.  That’s a SUICIDAL men­tal­ity.  Ain’t enough edu­ca­tion in the WORLD to com­bat that.  Until peo­ple take it SERIOUSLY and real­ize that it CAN hap­pen to them, the sta­tis­tics will not change.

Vio­lence:

Mur­der: every 30 min­utes in Amer­ica. 49% are Black. Black peo­ple are just 13% of the U.S. Pop­u­la­tion.

I can­not believe these moth­ers.  “My son made a few bad choices?”  Man.…if my son starts hang­ing out with the crim­i­nal ele­ment, I might just shoot him myself. At least it wouldn’t be a fatal wound. smh

It’s like peo­ple think these things JUST HAPPEN!  NO. LIfe is tough. You have to make tough choices nearly EVERY DAY.  You have to RAISE YOUR CHILDREN, not just pro­vide the neces­si­ties.  My son is EIGHT, and I’m already talk­ing to him about what it means to be a good hus­band and father.  I don’t walk around with the atti­tude that my son is such a good kid, he could never do any­thing wrong. I love him AND I dis­ci­pline him. He knows there is a way to act and a way NOT to act.  I’m not say­ing that he will turn out per­fect, but if he turns out wrong, it WILL NOT be because I didn’t teach him right.

I’m glad this night is over.  I’ve done too much yelling at the TV and seen too many sce­nar­ios that could have been avoided if peo­ple would THINK before they act.  Sure, bad things DO hap­pen, but MOST of what hap­pens in our lives is about the CHOICES we make.

© 2008, Soli Deo Glo­ria!. All rights reserved.

CNN: Black in Amer­ica  —  The Black Woman and Fam­ily test Filed under General | Comments Off